Not A Clue
by KatKat1993
Summary: Daine/Numair Oneshot. Set when Daine and Numair are travelling through the Divine Realms. Daine is experiencing bad dreams, and Numair comes very close to telling her that he loves her. Fluff.


Author's Note: The sequel to this is obviously in the book, please rate and review, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Daine and Numair (unfortunately) or any of Tamora Pierce's books or characters. I just own my ideas.

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Not a Clue

Daine woke up, sweat soaked. The reason for her sleep's interruption was a particularly unpleasant dream she had experienced. Again. Leaf's 'head' looked up at her, curious.

"Bad dream." She told him, smiling weakly.

"I tell Mage." He said and ran off. Daine called after Leaf, but to no avail. _Great_ she thought. _Numair will be so happy_.

She was surprised at how quickly Numair came. It normally took a lot to wake him, but he arrived in super quick time, concern in his eyes.

"Leaf says you had a bad dream." Numair said quietly.

"I did." Daine said. "But I have it a lot. I can deal with it. You can go back to sleep."

Numair raised his eyebrows and looked at Leaf.

"Thrashing wildly." The Darking said stubbornly. "Lots of shouting."

"May I take a look?" Numair asked.

"How?" Asked Daine, frowning.

"A simple magic, I can share your thoughts, memories, ideas, feelings and dreams. You just need to close your eyes and relax. Let me do the rest.

Daine did as she was bid. After a minute or two, she felt Numair's presence in the back of her head. The thought made her uncomfortable and she immediately put everything apart from the dream behind a locked door.

"Sensible idea." Commented Numair. Daine grinned and prepared herself for the nightmare that haunted her sleep.

_An empty corridor was all that Numair saw. Daine was jogging lightly down it, Kitten perched on her shoulder. She didn't seem to have a particular purpose when a voice stopped her dead in her tracks._

"_Daine."_

_It was a woman's. She froze, a look of bewilderment stretched across her face._

"_Ma?"_

"_That's right Daine dear. I've got myself in a spot of bother. Come and help me." Came Daine's mother's enticing call. All the time that Numair was watching the dream, he could feel Daine's presence. She was watching the dream too._

_The dream Daine ran towards the voice, while Kitten flew off. She ignored this and carried on. She arrived at a door and opened. The dream Daine let out a small gasp. Her mother was in the middle of the room, bound to a stake, which was slowly burning. Smoke wafted around Daine's ma._

"_Daine! Help me!" Her mother choked. Daine's presence shivered. She had seen this all before. Daine started forward to untie her mother when a voice cried form the opposite end of the room._

"_No Daine! Help me!"_

_The voice belonged to the Lioness who was bound in a similar fashion to Daine's Ma, slowly burning._

"_You can only save one! Choose me!"_

"_No me!" Cried another. Queen Thayet._

_All at once a tumble of voices whirled around Daine, begging her to choose them. There was a point when the voice of Maura of Dunlath cried for help. Daine wept. "She's only a child." She whispered. Then all at once, the voices stopped. 'Are they all dead?' Numair wondered. But his thoughts soon froze, for there, at the back of the room, was himself, tied to a stake, burning slowly._

"_Gods!" Daine cried and ran towards him. The dream Numair's stake danced further away, with Numair attached. Daine wept fully now, screaming in frustration._

"_You CAN'T DO THIS!" She sobbed._

_Then a familiar figure appeared from the shadows. The stormwing Orzone grinned, bearing pointed, metal teeth. Daine screamed and Numair looked up, weak._

"_Daine! Run!" He said hoarsely._

"_But you'll-"She tried to argue._

"_DO IT!" Numair growled._

_She did._

_She ran out the room, Orzone's laugh echoing. Daine's presence started crying. Numair tried to comfort the real Daine, while watching the imaginary one. Daine was still running when a series of trills stopped her in her tracks. The imaginary Daine hunted for her enraged dragon._

"_Kitten?" She cried. "KITTEN?"_

"_Daine." Came Daine's Ma's voice once again. Though somehow it didn't seem right._

"_Daine. Orzone's gone. Come back and help me."_

"_NO!" Came the sound of Numair's own voice. "It's a trap!"_

_Numair himself wanted to scream at the dream Daine too. He felt that, he being a sensible man wouldn't say it was a trap unless it was. He forced himself not to scream though. 'It is only a dream' he reassured himself._

_Daine re-entered the room and gasped again, just like the last time. Except this sight was very different. All her friends and family who had been screaming at her before were tied to their stakes, dead._

_Numair noticed they were split into two sections of the room. On one side of the room were the Badger, Broadfoot, Queensclaw, Rikash, her mother and father, and the three darkings, Gold-streak, Leaf and Jelly. On the other were her friends from the mortal realms. Alanna, Jonathan, Thayet, Maura, Brokefang, Cloud, Lindhall and Kaddar. He sensed there were others, but he couldn't see them. The dream Daine wept for her lost friends. 'Interesting, Gods can't die…can they?' Numair wondered._

_Then the sound of his voice, hoarse with exhaustion came from across the room._

"_Daine, you must go…it's a trap."_

"_You're alive!" She screamed and ran over to where the now very weak 'Numair' was sitting. She pulled out a knife from her pocket and began to cut his bonds. Numair was no longer burning, but he was weak and dieing. He knew that much._

"_No Daine. Leave me, it's a trap. You have to go. Just GO!"_

"_You expect me to leave you?" She cried. "I won't!"_

"_You don't understand." Numair croaked. "It's Orzone! He'll kill us both."_

_What happened next came in a flash. Everything went black and Numair could tell this was from Daine's point of view. She was dieing. She opened her eyes one last time. Orzone was in the corner of the room, smiling. Numair was looking at her, crying. No sound could be hear but 'Numair's' lips formed three words._

_I love you._

All at once Numair was swept up in a flurry of cloud and he was no longer laying on a cold stone floor, but next to Daine's bed roll. She stared up at him, bleary eyed.

Numair gathered his thoughts together. How was he going to tell her? Would he pass it off as something the dream had made up? Or had the time, at last come, to reveal his true feelings? Daine nudged him.

"Well? What did you make of it?" She asked. "Can you stop it?" She didn't appear concerned at Numair revealing his feelings at the end of the dream.

"Yes I can stop it."

Daine gave a sigh of relief. "It was all too realistic. I don't think I could have coped with it to tell you the truth."

Numair smiled. "It was rather dramatic wasn't it?" He smiled. "Especially the end. Didn't like the end."

"No." She said thoughtfully. "Numaiiiiir…"

Oh God…this was it…

"There's one bit I don't understand. At the end. I open my eyes and it's like your trying to say something to me. But I can't make it out. Have any ideas?"

Numair was stunned for a moment. Then it dawned on him. She didn't know!

"I-I…" Numair couldn't say it. She would have to know, of course. But not now. She didn't need to know now. Did she? What to do…Numair longed to tell her, he really did. But how…when? Why? She wouldn't feel the same. He was too old. He would just have to shed these ridiculous feelings. Even though it hurt. Even though it broke his heart. Even though it was killing him…

"Numair? Are you alright?"

"Aaaaah…yes-fine."

"Right…" She said uncertainly. "Well?"

"Errrrr…what?"

"Any idea what you say?" She asked rolling her eyes.

Err…"

Now was the time…he had to tell her.

"Errr…Not a clue Magelet."

Daine blinked and then tried to smile, though he could tell she was disappointed.

"Oh…ok." She mustered a proper smile. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." He choked and climbed out the tent. "I-I'll stop those nightmares tomorrow. Ok?"

"Sure thing." Said Daine sleepily.

Numair watched her fall asleep for a while and, when he was sure she wouldn't start to have the nightmare, turned back to his own tent.

"Goodnight Daine." He whispered to himself. "My little Magelet."

And with that, Numair climbed into bed, and fell asleep.


End file.
